TL;DR
Let’s talk about one of the biggest missed SEO opportunities on the web – your page titles.
Most websites are leaving clicks (and rankings) on the table with lazy, half-baked title tags. And it’s not just small businesses getting this wrong. Big brands with massive budgets are making the same rookie mistakes.
We’re showing you how to write titles that actually rank and get clicked. Then, we’ll tear apart five real examples and rebuild them into something stronger.
Why do SEO titles matter?
Your title tag is the hardest-working piece of metadata on your page. It’s what appears as the blue clickable link in search results, the text in browser tabs, and what gets shared when someone posts your page on social media.
Google uses it as a primary signal to understand what your page is about, which directly impacts where you rank. But here’s the thing – even if you’re ranking well, a weak title means fewer people will click through. Your competitors might be sitting below you in position four or five, but if their title is more compelling, they’re stealing your traffic.
How to structure a great title tag
Here’s your no-fluff checklist for writing solid SEO titles:
- Include your main keyword: This is non-negotiable. If you’re targeting “home insurance”, it needs to be in there.
- Support it with secondary variations: Add related terms, but keep it human. No robotic keyword stuffing.
- Keep it natural: Write for people first, search engines second. It’s not 2010 anymore.
- Stay under 60 characters: Any longer and Google chops it off in search results. Keep it tight.
- Use power words: Words like “cheap”, “fast”, “best”, or “ultimate” make your title clickable.
- Add your brand name only if it builds trust: If you’re a known brand, use it. If not, save the characters for keywords.
- Make it completely unique: No duplicate titles across your site. Every page deserves its own optimised title.
- Use dashes for clean formatting: Dashes separate elements nicely and improve scannability.
Follow this checklist, and you’re already ahead of 80% of the web.
Want to see this in action?
Now let’s fix some titles that are doing fine… but could be doing so much better.
We’re not punching down here. These pages all rank on the first or second page for their target terms. But even a 5% boost in click-through rate can mean thousands more visits.
Nationwide – home insurance
Original title: Home Insurance
That’s it. Literally just “Home Insurance”. Come on, Nationwide – you’re better than this.
Improved title: Compare Cheap Home Insurance Quotes from £126 – Nationwide
We’ve added the keyword variation “cheap home insurance”, a price-driven call-to-action, and their brand name for trust. Suddenly, it’s working harder for them.
Government of Canada – credit score guide
Original title: Improving Your Credit Score
Yeah, we weren’t joking when we said big brands are getting this wrong. They want to rank for “how to improve credit score fast”, but they’ve wasted half their character limit.
Improved title: 9 Real Ways To Improve Your Credit Fast
We’ve injected urgency, added a listicle number (people love numbered lists), and kept it natural and search-focused. “Improve your credit fast” is the core query here.
Worcester Bosch – boiler installation
Original title: Affordable New Boiler Prices
Way too simple. They’ve completely missed out on a massive keyword variation: “cheap boiler installation”.
Improved title: Cheap Boiler Installation – From £1,200 – Bosch
We’ve combined two keyword variations into one title, whilst also mentioning a specific price point to improve click-through rates. Now it’s doing double duty.
Doctors of Running – running shoes guide
Original title: Monday Shakeout: Shoes For Flat Feet Runners, by a Flat Feet Runner
They’re taking up too much room here. This needs refining.
Improved title: 7 Best Running Shoes for Flat Feet in 2025 – Doctors of Running
Keyword-rich, added freshness with the year, and ditched the podcast-style vagueness. It’s clearer, more clickable, and still fits comfortably under 60 characters.
Groov-e – iPhone 15 case
Original title: iPhone 15
Not groovy at all. Misleading, too – they’re not selling iPhones.
Improved title: iPhone 15 Cases – Waterproof & Tempered Glass Options – Groov-e
Stop using automated titles. Nobody’s searching just “iPhone 15” when looking for a case. This now targets the actual product with key modifiers people search for: waterproof, tempered glass options.
What’s the lesson here?
Don’t sleep on your title tags.
They’re the first thing Google sees. The first thing users read. And one of the easiest SEO wins you can control.
Use the checklist above. Borrow ideas from competitors who are doing it right. Test, tweak, and track your results.
Title optimisation isn’t glamorous, but it’s one of the simplest ways to squeeze more traffic out of pages that are already ranking. And in a world where every click counts, that’s a win worth chasing.
